The French Revolution, among its many changes, tried renaming the months and, during its short existence, appeared Rainy, Floral, Windy, Thermidor etc. Luckily for the French, after a whirlwind of severed heads came the calm, and months returned to their traditional names.
The Cuban Revolution could not be left behind and although it didn’t dare with the months, it attached labels to the years, adding a tagline. So 1959 was “The Year of the Liberation” and then followed that of Agriculture, Literacy, Industrialization, Planning and so on. It was a historic accommodation, just like the execution wall replaced the guillotine.
Each new year of the revolutionary calendar has received its tagline, some of them very far-fetched, like that for this year: The Anniversaries of the Decisive Battles of the Revolution. This adding taglines, though it has been a free burden for everyone, has particularly harmed typists and computer operators, who have been forced to load them on to all of their writings after the year’s number.
The interesting thing is, with rare exceptions, the taglines never come to pass, since their objective was centered on the efforts to solve the problem demarcated by their name, during the year in question. We continue, after more than fifty years of taglines, without agriculture, without industrialization, without productivity, without efficiency, without austerity, and so on.
Perhaps, because of that, in the updating of the model that is being carried out, the years can now simply get a consecutive tagline: Year 52 of the Revolution, Year 53 of the Revolution, etc. At least it doesn’t promise anything and, what’s more, needs no explanation for the failure of its objectives. It is more pragmatic.
Perhaps because of that, in the updated model that is being carried out now only have one postscript years consecutively: 52 years of the Revolution, 53 years of the Revolution, and so on. At least not undertake and also do not need explanations of the failure of its objectives. It is more pragmatic.
July 23 2011
